Thank Primus, was Smokescreen’s first thought when he heard that Ironhide was finally letting him go outside and stretch his circuits. He’d been cooped up inside staring at computer screens for far too long and needed to get out before he went stir crazy. Maybe I’ll actually get to race around a little in my Earthen alt mode. Smokey loved his vehicle mode. It was what the humans called a Nissan 350Z. He didn’t know exactly what that meant, and he really didn’t care. He had chosen this form because the car bared a strong resemblance to his original Cybertronian alt mode, and because the 350Z was based on an Earth-style race car, which fit Smokescreen like an iron glove.

“Sure thing, commander,” the diversionary tactician replied to Ironhide’s orders. “Once we get the new equipment in place I’ll get right back to monitoring the human internet.” With that said, Smokescreen turned and followed Bumblebee through the doorway of the Command Deck and down the corridor.

Storage Depot

Smokescreen entered the storage room and began gathering up the necessary observation gear they would need to deploy along the shoreline. Smokey then came upon some small holographic projectors. “Hey, Bumblebee. Do you want me to grab some of these holo-projectors? We could use them to hide the new surveillance equipment from prying optics, human or otherwise.”

Outside Repair Bay / Corridors

His shoulder now fixed, Trailbreaker exited the Repair Bay and began moving through the corridors of the ship. The black mech had previously picked up the commlink message from Ironhide sending Sunny and Siders on a mission to help out Jazz. For a brief nano, ‘breaker had considered going up to the Command Deck and seeing if Ironhide needed him to assist the twins in any way. But then he thought better of it. I wouldn’t be much help out there. I’d just waste more fuel, the defensive strategist thought to himself. Besides, the twins will do just fine without me. The ‘cons don’t stand a chance against them.

Instead, Trailbreaker decided to head back to the labs, where he had been earlier, to see how his friend Smokescreen was coming along with the system diagnostic. “I hope he didn’t get in trouble for watching human racing again. I’d hate to see him get thrown in the brig for something so trivial,” he quietly muttered to himself.

Computer Labs

The door slid open and Trailbreaker entered the labs only to find that Smokescreen was gone. Probably took the diagnostic results up to Ironhide, The black mech then noticed Wheeljack and Skids working away at their stations. As usual, ‘jack was tinkering away at some invention of his. He could make an energon bomb out of a human circuit board if given the chance. It may well blow up in his face on the first try, but he’d eventually get it right. “Breaker chuckled at this thought and then remembered that he had meant to ask the Autobot inventor a question regarding his high fuel consumption.

“Hey, guys! How’s it going?” Trailbreaker asked, cheerfully as he approached Wheeljack’s station. “So, Wheeljack, I’ve been meaning to ask you about something. When you have an astrosecond, could you build me a device that would help increase my fuel efficiency levels when I’m out on a mission? That way I don’t continue to waste so much energy. Maybe some kind of new filter that could be installed in my fuel system somewhere. I’d greatly appreciate it.”

"I was thinking the exact same thing." Bumblebee replied as he gathered up a stock of the observation gear. "No point in putting all of this down and then having a human child tripping over it."

The smaller bot checked the holographic disguise so that it looked like a rock, or something normal for an Earth shore line. Bumblebee could tell that Smokescreen was just as eager as he was to get out. Earth was a nice planet and Bumblebee had developed an affection for the people of this little planet, and as a result he was not as bothered as some of the others to be stationed here.

Outside Storage Room/CorridorsBumblebee emerged from the storage room with his supply of gear and turned for the exit hatch. It was to risky to attempt and orbital bounce so close to the ship and a tourist attraction, so Bumblebee had made sure that there was safe, and hidden method for the crew of the Ark-19 to make it to the surface of the lake with little risk of being seen. He had also made sure to set up a scanning device on the section of shore line where the Autobots would emerge to ensure that the area was safe. He checked the scanner and saw that the area was free of any potential eyes and saw that it was clear.

"Alright Smokescreen lets get up there and get this gear down." The minibot said as he walked into the airlock. "Now before we go up I just want to remind you stay in your alt mode, only transform into robot mode only if your life depends on it. Also keep your holomater avatar active at all times as well and obey the human traffic laws. We don't want to draw any attention to ourselves if we can avoid it."

The smaller bot grinned up at Smokescreen and gave him a friendly pat on the arm. When he gave out those orders Bumblebee always felt a little strange, but he just figured it was that knowledge was second nature to him given his role as an intelligence officer and to himself he sounded foolish repeating it. He also felt that saying such a thing could be a little condescending to the other 'Bots, but he figured it was better safe then sorry.

Bumblebee turned to the door and hit the switch that opened the door and he entered the water of Lake Erie and ascended to the surface. Poking his head up and taking a quick look around and not seeing anyone in sight climbed onto the shore line and transformed into his Volkswagen Beetle and activated his holomater avatar.

Computer Labs

When the doors opened Wheeljack barely registered it, he was to busy with his work and talking with Skids. He had just begun working on the replacement components for the device he was going to give to Skids when he heard someone approach him. He figured it was just Smokescreen returning from the Command Deck, but when he heard the voice of Trailbreaker he looked up at the big 'Bot.

"Oh hey Trailbreaker. How's the arm? Was Ratchet able to patch it up?" When he heard Trailbreaker's request Wheeljack rubbed his chin in thought and was quite for several moments. "Hmm, a new filter? That might be doable." He turned to his computer and brought up Trailbreakers schematics, he always liked having the spec for his team mates since he was always trying to think of new ways to improve their weapons and abilities. "Actually I have been trying to find a way to improve our teams fuel efficiency by designing a fuel pump based off of Bumblebee's. But I've been meeting with less then success with it, but a filter might be a better idea." He back taking a detailed look at Trailbreaker's fuel distribution system. "Although I am not comfortable with the idea of creating a new system or device and installing it in you without making sure it will do what it is intended to, I wouldn't mind tinkering with your fuel injection system since it seems to pump way to much fuel into your tubes. I might be able to make it so it injects a more reasonable amount, as I think with the way it is now you just get huge doses that work well for you when you need that extra burst in battle, but when not exerting yourself just burns it up more." He then snapped his fingers as an eye struck him. "Oh I think I got it! I might be able to devise a system that will allow you to control how much fuel you are injecting into your tubes, but we might want to run this by Ratchet first. I am not a medical expert, and I want his approval before I start opening anyone up to tinker around with his inner workings."

"Yes I suppose you're right, Wheeljack." Skids worried anyway, however... he liked the humans and got on well with Jazz, and while he wasn't particularly fond of Sunstreaker and Sideswipe, he wasn't keen on seeing them injured by the Decepticons, either.

He brooded over his display while Wheeljack tinkered with the regulation device, until Trailbreaker came in. Skids waved a greeting to him. "It goes well enough in here, though I hear that things are a llittle crazy planetside. What has been going on with you, Trailbreaker? Anything new happening?"

Skids also listened curiously as Wheeljack pondered Trailbreaker's fuel problems. He didn't know much about engineering himself, being much more well-versed in the "soft" sciences, but he tended to be curious about almost any tidbit of information he could fold into his personal analyses somehow.

Smokescreen left the storage area with the observation equipment slung over both shoulders and followed Bumblebee to the exit hatch. As he entered the airlock, Smokey was reminded by the minibot of the standard infiltration protocols such as: staying in alt mode, keeping your holomatter avatar on, obeying the traffic laws and so on and so forth. He’d heard them a million times before from Ironhide and even from Trailbreaker. "Don’t worry, ‘bee. I know the rules," he replied, placing one hand gently on the yellow mech's shoulder. "I won’t break them."

Except for that one about obeying the traffic laws, Smokey thought to himself. I may have to bend that one just a little bit. Then the hatch was opened and the diversionary tactician found himself surrounded by cold water that made his circuits tingle. Without delay, the red and blue Autobot swam out and up, heading for the surface.

Lake Erie Shoreline

Emerging from Lake Erie astroseconds later, Smokescreen quickly made his way onshore and transformed into his Nissan 350Z alt mode. His car form was a sleek piece of machinery that any racing enthusiast, human or bot, would envy. Smokey’s coloring really made the vehicle stand out with the hood, roof and spoiler being a deep red while the sides and front were a solid blue. Additionally, a white stripe stretched the length of the car, separating the two colors. And as an added decoration, the number ‘38’ appeared on both doors inside of white squares. This number had no real meaning for Smokey. It was what the humans would call a "custom job" and gave his alt mode more of an Earthen race car vibe without actually being one.

As Smokecreen drove up along side Bumblebee, his holo-driver appeared behind the wheel. Smokey then began scanning the area for any signs of human activity. "I’m not picking much up on my scanners, Bumblebee. There are a few natives walking about a half-mile down the beach, and there are a few vehicles driving by on a road that runs parallel to the shoreline, but that’s about it," Smokescreen advised his superior officer. "Seems we’ve come up onto a remote area. We should be okay deploying the equipment. Where do you want me to start?"

Computer Labs

"My arm’s doing fine. Thanks for asking," Trailbreaker responded to Wheeljack’s inquiry. "Ratchet was able to patch it up without a problem." He then turned to Skids. "Yeah, I heard about Sunny and Siders going out to help Jazz. They’ll do fine. Other than that, not much else going on that I’m aware of."

‘Breaker then listened to Wheeljack’s proposals regarding his fuel system. Tinker around with my inner workings? The black mech thought to himself. Not exactly what I had in mind. "Well that sounds all well and good, ‘jack, but I was really just looking for something small I could just install myself or Ratchet could install if need be. I really didn’t want my system rearranged. I’d be willing the try that fuel pump idea, though, once you get it working."

Sitting on his wheels in the soft sand of the Lake Erie shore line Bumblebee initiated his own scan of the area just before Smokescreen communicated his findings. The minibots own scans revealed the same information. The area was not as busy, this may could of been a number of reasons, time of day, year, some sort of human ritual that occupied their time or so forth. Bumblebee had created a map of the lakes shoreline and marked the spots where he had deployed the listening devices when the Ark had first arrived on Earth. He then transmitted a copy of that map to Smokescreen. The map showed that most of the shoreline was pretty well covered with Bumblebee's observation equipment, except for the northern portion, that was barely covered at all.

"Well Smokescreen the issue we have here is that this lake lies on the boarder of two human nation-states, although they are friendly towards each other, traveling between them can be problematic. What I want to do first is cross the boarder into the norther nation-state, scout the shore line and deploy our equipment. From there I want to also cover several of the island located in the lake as well." He said as he began to highlight the areas on the map that he wanted to cover. "Once we have the northern shore covered we can then enter the water and make our way for the islands. So we had better get moving, from what Skids tells me from the human news broadcasts crossing the boarder can take several hours."

Bumblebee rolled forward and drove onto the nearest road and began to drive down the highway towards the board crossing. There he ended up stuck in traffic as he slowly inched forward, towards the check point.

Computer Lab

Nodding as he listened to what Trailbreaker wanted wheel check rubbed his chin once again in thought, his vocalizers glowing softly from time to time as he softly muttered something to himself. Wheeljack understood Trailbreaker's reluctance to undergone any major reworking of his internal components, it wasn't an idea he particularly liked himself. Though trying to find better ways to improve the fuel effencency of his fellow Autobot's has been a major concern of Wheeljack of late. Given the dwindling supplies of energon and the increasing reliance on substitutes it was becoming more important to ensure that every drop of fuel was used to full effect. Which meant 'Bots like Trailbreaker, who burned it up like no tomorrow, had a problem.

"Sorry about that Trailbreaker, I got a little ahead of myself." Wheeljack said a little embarrassed. His tendency to try and create new inventions often saw him get over zealous and try to create something grandiose, and over look the little things. "Well, sorry to let you down on the new fuel pump, but so far it has failed every test... if I put it into any living Autobot it would probably kill them, so I don't think I want you to try it out. Instead I think I got something else that night help you." He turned to compartment that held a number of gadgets and opened it, he reached in side and removed a small, roundcap looking gadget. "This isn't a long term solution I'm afraid. I developed it back on Praxus to help out Ratchet when the Decepticons went to stage 6. It was meant to help out the wounded and keep them from going into stasis lock or off line from loosing to much fuel. You just switch it on and attach it to your fuel pump, from there it should monitor how much of fuel you are having pumped into your system and maintain an even distribution of fuel into your tubes." He said to Trailbreaker as he handed him the little cap.

"The only thing is they were never meant for continuous use... since they were only used on the badly wounded... by the time they burned out they were probably no longer needed. This has the added problem of that once they burn out they can't be used again, so you have to get a new one. I'm not sure if Ratchet has an extra ones, and I'll need to build some more for you to have a steady supply of them. Though that one there is an advanced version to use on recovering wounded who still needed to maintain a careful fuel flow... so it should last you a few solar cycles, long enough for me to work up a batch for your regular use." Wheeljack turned back to his computer and made a note to develop more of the regulator caps for Trailbreaker when he remembered something and turned back to the black 'bot. "Oh Trailbreaker, I don't know how well they will work on a 'Bot who is full functionally and in top condition. So it might give out under the strain of constant activity and battle, so be careful. In the mean time I will try to find a more permanent solution to help you."

"You got it, Ironhide," came Windcharger's cheery reply. He was more than happy to have a new task to get his attention away from the mundane chore of collating data. Not that he really minded learning about their new environment, but he was a warrior and he needed action to keep him satisfied. If left at a computer console too long, Windcharger had a tendancy to jump around the database reading miscellaneous bits of data. He didn't retain the information like Skids would, but he did have a knack for trivial information.

Switching his computer console to tracking mode, Windcharger used Teletraan's complex topographic imaging and tracking system to monitor exactly what was going on with the twins and Jazz. It took but a few astro-seconds to get a lock on the twins. According to Teletraan, Sideswipe engaged with what must be Laserbeak and Sunstreaker was leaving his brother behind. For some reason Jazz's energon signature was not showing up on Teletraan's projected map. Maybe I need to widen my search grid.

Punching a few buttons, Windcharger began the scan of the surrounding area but still had trouble gettng a lock on Jazz. Clearly, something was wrong here. It seemed there was some kind of interference keeping Teletraan from getting an accurate reading. Windcharger rested his chin in his hand has he pondered the situation, then turned to his commander. "Ironhide, I can't get a lock on Jazz. Something's wrong with Teletraan's readings. Let me send out Skyspy to get a closer look at what's going on.

Smokescreen followed Bumblebee onto the nearby highway and headed north towards the large human settlement called Detroit where the border checkpoint was located. As he drove along, Lake Erie became the Detroit River, and Smokey took the opportunity to study the map that his yellow companion had transmitted to him. The minibot was always very thorough in anything his did and this time was no exception. The map was very detailed and gave them a clear visual guide as to where deploying the new equipment would give the Autobots maximum coverage of the northern shoreline. All they needed to do was scout the area to find the perfect spots. Furthermore, Smokey felt that deploying equipment on the numerous islands within the lake was a good idea, as well.

“You can never have too much coverage,” Smokey said to Bumblebee as the traffic ahead began to slow. “Putting sensors on those islands will really give us a complete view of our surroundings. Decepticons could easily hide on one of those islands and since they mostly fly, they’d be able to get to them without much trouble.” Traffic then came to a stand still and Smokescreen was forced to slam on his breaks coming within inches of Bumblebee’s rear bumper. The diversionary tactician scanned ahead and detected a virtual parking lot for several miles. “You weren’t kidding when you said it would take a while to cross the border.”

Great, I finally get out of the ship and now I’m stuck in wall-to-wall traffic, Smokey thought as he sat idling on the roadway. In an attempt to avoid more boredom, the red and blue mech decided to do a little research on crossing the border. Accessing the internet, he discovered that they would need more than a friendly smile to get into the northern nation called Canada.

“Bumblebee, I did some searching on the human 'net and found that we will need certain paper documents and metal currency in order to cross the border. Specifically, our avatars will need them. First, we’ll need photo IDs. A driver’s license should do the trick. But, we’ll also need passports along with a form of money called ‘tokens’. I’ve already found what these documents and tokens look like. Our holomatter emitters should have no problem generating them for us.” Smokescreen transmitted the images to the yellow minibot.

“Also, did you know that the border crossing up ahead is actually a tunnel that goes underwater?” Smokescreen informed Bumblebee. “It’s called the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel and it connects the large human settlement that's ahead of us with another settlement called Windsor on the other side of the river. Once we’re across, it should be easy to follow the river south back to the lake where we can then commence scouting the northern shoreline.”

Ark-19 - Computer Labs

Trailbreaker took the cap-like device from Wheeljack and closely examined it as he listened to the inventor describe it’s function. The device appeared harmless enough and it was more of what ‘breaker was looking for than a complete reworking of his systems. And the black mech should have no problem attaching this to his fuel pump, himself. He wouldn’t require Ratchet’s assistance.

“Okay, ‘jack. I’ll give this a try and let you know how it works out.” Trailbreaker then thought for a moment. “But, I think I’ll wait until I’m called upon for a mission. That way I won’t wear it out just loitering around the ship. It won’t do me much good if that happens,” he said with a chuckle. “Thanks, Wheeljack. I appreciate the help.”

After listening to Smokescreen describe the required documents and tokens, and where the road lead to Bumblebee would of smacked himself in the forehead if he were in robot mode. He had been so focused on the topography of the lake he had totally forgotten to look into what would be needed to get across the boarder. Thankfully Ironhide had ordered Smokescreen to come along and he was able to discover the required items he would need his holomater generator to produce. Still he felt somewhat embarrassed about the slip up.

"Thanks for that Smokescreen. That never even crossed my mind to look into that, good thing you had the instinct to check... it would of been a very awkward situation if I reached the check point without that bit of information." The yellow minibot said as he inched forward a little bit. He had anticipated a long delay at the check point, but it appeared he had under estimated the traffic. "Hmm, seems my estimations for the human traffic as well as the location where this road takes us were off. Looks like we are going to be delayed. Oh well... nothing we can do about that now."

Time seemed to crawl by for Bumblebee as he sat in traffic, inching forward ever few minutes. The poor minibot thought he might go into stasis lock after his long wait, but he couldn't think of anyway out of the situation without risking blowing his cover. He wondered how the humans themselves could deal with it, and why two nations who were supposedly friendly towards each other could require such a strain. However, despite his irritation with waiting eventually he reach the check point.

"That is a good point about the islands Smokescreen and that is one I have considered myself. They would be excellent staging areas for Decepticon staging areas for air raids and recon missions. Also I a little worried that humans might be using them as well to try and find us. I know it sounds unlikely, but considering how many groups are obsessed with potential off world activity I am worried someone might have taken notice of us in some way. So I plan on placing observation devices on a few key islands that will let us to keep an eye on the rest of them.

A somewhat grumpy looking uniformed human male was waiting for him and asked to see the documentation Smokescreen had informed him of. His avatar presented the generated documents to the officer he studied them carefully. For a few nanoseconds Bumblebee was worried he had not generated the proper documentation as the officer seemed to be very carefully studying the information and then looked back at his sweetly smiling avatar. Though eventually he was allowed to pay the tokens and move on, but not before his audio receptors heard a conversation between two officers about the possibility of inspecting his vehicle mode. Fortunately they decided it was not needed.

"I can't slow down to wait for you Smokescreen," Bumblebee said as he drove away from the check point and towards the tunnel. "if I get to far ahead I'll find some place to wait for you on the other side of the tunnel."

Bumblebee soon was descending the road into the underwater tunnel as he kept an optic out on his rear sensors to watch his comrade for as long as he could.

Computer Lab

"It's not problem Trailbreaker, I try to help out as best I can, and that seems to be with cooking up little gizmos like that." He said gesturing towards the little cap held in the black Autobot's hand. "And keeping you in the field longer is always a good way to help out the team and keep to really through a wrench in the Decepticon works." The inventor said as he turned back to face his work station. "Though it is looking like I got work piling up."

Wheeljack now had at least two projects that he had to work on right away, and he always had a number of things on the back burner. He looked through his computer files to see what projects he had going on at the moment and began to organize them in order of priority. He placed repairing the frequency device for Skids and the new fuel caps for Trailbreaker at the top of least. Though that meant he had to bump down the new tracking systems and gyrojets for his own shells down.

He turned back to the damaged device he had set aside for Skids and began to work again on replacing the components that had burned out. It took him sometime to get a new device repaired, but in order to insure that it would work under the weight of the human com traffic he had to reduce its efficiency. Once done he stood up and walked over to where Skids was sitting and presented the repaired device.

"Here you go Skids. I repaired the damaged parts and modified the systems to work under the conditions Earth presents. But this means that it is only working at about 75% capacity, and might go down even further to compensate for higher volumes of communication traffic in order to prevent it from burning out again. I hope that helps."

"Thank you, Wheeljack." Skids took the device back gratefully. "Don't worry about the reduced capacity... like I said, it's still a great improvement. Besides, I probably was really watching too many signals at once to pay real attention to..."

He set the device back on his station and brooded for a bit as it readjusted the signals again. The more that Jazz's mission was mentioned, the more curious he was about what was going on... he always found it hard to resist finding out some potentially interesting bit of information. A thought struck him as he killed some time fiddling with the controls.

"Wheeljack? How well can this device clean up signals, precisely? Well enough to pick up signals from the humans' personal transmitters?" Usually only the humans' stronger transmissions could be picked up with any clarity by their receiver, but it was worth asking now that things had been altered...

Still hunched over his desk, working away on his project for Trailbreaker Wheeljack kept one audio receptor turned to Skids. As the other Autobot talked the inventor still focused on the task he had set before and worked away as he assembled the components he needed for the fuel regulator cap that Trailbreaker had requested. Although not large, it was a surprisingly complex piece of work as it was needed to interface with the fuel systems of a 'Bot and to alter the rate at which fuel flowed. Wheeljack was still concerned that the current design of the cap was not sturdy enough to keep working under intense environments such as a combat, and given that each cap was not usable once they burned out was also a drain on resources. Although he had problems working out the later of those faults he had never considered designing one for use in the field for a mech like Trailbreaker. However, he was working on a small supply to be used by the black Autobot in the mean time until he could work out those two problems. Though he figured he would only get the chance once he saw how well the cap worked under the conditions a mission would place on it.

"Well it is not really designed to enhance the reception of certain frequencies, instead the regulator was meant to shift through all those transmissions coming in and better help you review them. My concern with frequency is more related to the extra output given off by the device as it alters the way the receiver receives transmissions. So it can't help you there." Wheeljack told Skids without looking up from his work. "But if you like once I get this work out of the way for Trailbreaker I can see what I can do about working up a better receiver for you. Though I might have to run it by Bumblebee before we activate or test it. He might have to take a look at it first to make sure it would make our own communication traffic detectable to the humans."

After what seemed like a million stellar cycles, Smokescreen had finally reached the entrance to the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel. He never realized before that he was capable of going so slow, but he had done it. Five miles per hour; Must be a record for me, he thought to himself, as Bumblebee made it through the checkpoint with little difficulty. Smokey then pulled forward and stopped next to the same uniformed human male who had just verified the minibot’s credentials.

With a wide smile on his face, Smokescreen’s avatar presented his “passport”, “driver’s license” and one “token” to the man. Like with Bumblebee, the human studied them carefully, looking back and forth several times at the holo-driver and then at the documents. The man then took a small step backwards, allowing his eyes to gaze at the side of Smokescreen, himself, before leaning in towards the artificial person behind the wheel.

“Nice custom job,” the human commented plainly. “You a racing fan?”

Smokey considered his answer carefully before responding. He didn’t want to say the wrong thing and risk exposing himself. “Thank you and yes, I am a racing fan.”

“So am I,” the human replied as he handed the credentials back to the avatar. “Enjoy your stay in Canada.” And with that, the uniformed man waved Smokescreen through the checkpoint.

The diversionary tactician then sped away, descending towards the tunnel, finally able to drive faster than a cyber snail. It soon dawned on the red and blue mech that once he and Bumblebee had driven far enough away from the checkpoint, the holo-tokens they had given the human would vanish. Of course, by the time anyone noticed this, the Autobots would be long gone. Astroseconds later, Smokescreen entered the tunnel and quickly caught up to Bumblebee.

If he could breath Bumblebee would of just released a long held breath as he saw Smokescreen catch up to him. The minibot was greatly concerned that one of them would have been subjected to an extensive search by the human boarder guards. He wasn't sure what the humans would of done to search their vehicle forms, but he was certain they would have discovered that the two Autobots were certainly not regular human vehicles. He made a note to himself to pass along this information to the others once his current mission was finished. It might be very important in the future for the other Autobot's to keep in mind the proper procedures for passing a human boarder crossing.

"Well that was certainly close Smokescreen. I was worried there for a few nanoseconds that we were going to be stopped and searched. If that happened I wasn't sure what was happening." He yellow 'Bot said to his racing car disguised companion as they reached the exit of the tunnel. "Alright, once we are on the other side of the tunnel we will head east along the coast and drop our gear at these points."

Bumblebee sent Smokescreen an updated version of the map, marked with their destinations. Once out of the tunnel Bumblebee took the first road heading for Lake Erie.

Skids looks slightly crestfallen at Wheeljack's clarification. "Ah, I see. Well..." He ponders. "If you wanted to work on it later, I would appreciate it. I would think perhaps Bumblebee might find it handy as well in some cases. I mean, news feeds are good for finding things out after they already happened, but personal transmissions from witnesses might help with what's currently happening."

Flicking through his computer files to see what he currently had available to him to produce the needed gadgets to help out Trailbreaker, Wheeljack kept and audio receptor turned to Skids. Although he liked the other 'Bot, Wheeljack thought to himself that Skids spent way to much time down here in the lab, so far the other 'Bot hadn't left all cycle. However, like Wheeljack he probably got caught up in his work, Primus knows the inventor had spent very long periods of times without speaking to another mech just working away on some new weapon or gizmo. In that way he figured the two were more alike, which might explain why they got along so well, sort of kindred sparks.

"Well, I don't think I could improve on that device anymore then I already have. It would require something more powerful then that, and larger, to get what you are looking for. Earth is just way to overloaded on communication traffic to get something small and simple to work." Wheeljack offered a shrug. "Now, I can work on that once I get some spare time from these other projects, but given our security requirements I'm not sure if I could build something that wouldn't risk overloading our encryption programs."

Wheeljack sat up and thought for a moment, pondering something to tell Skids, he wanted to help the anthropologist, but in order to something working along the lines that he wanted would take more then just a simple tweak of an existing piece of equipment. He leaned forward and began working on something on his computer, working up specs for something and then transferring it to a data pad he had lying on his desk.

"Well Skids I think I can more then likely build you something to suit your needs, but it is going to be more complicated then what you need. The problem is like I said before, Earth is just to overloaded with communications traffic to get something simple to work. We need something bigger, and it will take time to create, it will also need Ironhide's approval. See, my primary concern is that in order to get the signal strength that it want might weaken our own ships encryption programs, obviously leaving us open to detection." He picked up the datapad and passed it to Skids.

"If you want to run it by Ironhide here is a list of the equipment I need, nothing fancy or special, but not exactly stuff I have lying around my workshop. I have also included an explanation of how this machine will work. Basically it will send out a receiver pulse at pre-designated intervals until the gap between pulses is lengthened or shortened or deactivated by the operator. This pulse will essentially download every communication signal it can detect in about half an Earth solar-cycle. Though in order to get his to work the pulse will be incredibly strong in its signal intensity, so much so that I am uncertain if our encryption programs will be able to keep it hidden. Additional considering how much data that pulse will collect and download to us the link to the ship will also be very strong."

Wheeljack turned back to his own work station and began to tinker with Trailbreaker's fuel caps again.

"I can build it, and I am confident that the humans might not be able to detect signals with the sophistication of ours as I don't know what sort of equipment they have. My concerns are the Decepticon's detecting us, since a output of that intensity will be detected by them. Though I am not sure if they will be able to trace it back to us, though if they have some good over there looking for that sort of stuff they will certainly be able to track us down. Sorry I can't do better then that Skids, but that is all I can do at the moment."

The deafening roar of car engines echoed around him as Smokescreen sped through the tunnel towards the Canadian side. He followed closely behind Bumblebee and only exceeded the posted speed limit when his minibot superior did so. Otherwise, he maintained a constant speed that would not attract any unwanted human attention. This was very hard for Smokey to do, especially after crawling along at a near standstill for hours. Right now, he wanted nothing more than to zoom at top speed down the highway, feeling the air passing over his sleek form and leaving all others in his dust.

Unfortunately, Smokescreen could not do that, not with Bumblebee around. Primus knows that his little yellow companion would probably inform Ironhide if Smokey got out of line and broke any traffic laws. Then the red and blue mech would end up in the brig for sure. I’ve got to ditch him somehow, Smokescreen thought, If only for a little while. I’ve got to run off some of this pent up energy.

Then the diversionary expert received the latest version of the map showing where Bumblebee wanted to set up the new equipment. There were almost a dozen locations spread evenly across the entire northern shoreline of Lake Erie. Each would only take approximately a half-cycle to properly set up and calibrate. Factoring in the time allotted to transverse the distance between locations, Smokey calculated that the job should take no more than ten cycles maximum. Of course, at the rate Smokey drives, he could have it done in half the time if only he was alone. Then the racing ‘bot thought for a moment, an idea generating in his processors. That’s it!

“Hey Bumblebee, I’ve got an idea. Why don’t we split up when deploying the sensors? We could cover more ground that way and get the job done in half the time.” Of course, Smokey really didn’t care about completing the mission faster. The longer he was outside the Ark the better. He just wanted some alone time so he could let loose and go for a real joyride. “If you want, you could take the western half of the northern shoreline while I drive ahead and handle the eastern half. We can start deploying the observation equipment at either end of the lake and then make our way towards one another until we meet somewhere in the middle. Then we can head on out to those islands you were talking about. Sound good?”

As the diversionary tactician finished his sentence, he exited the tunnel in Windsor, Ontario and took the first road that followed the Detroit River back to Lake Erie. Hopefully, his plan would work and Bumblebee would agree to let Smokescreen on his own for a short while.

Ark-19 - Hallways

Having just exited the labs, Trailbreaker strolled down the corridor examining the capping device he had just received from Wheeljack. I hope this thing works, the black mech thought to himself. He knew that Wheeljack didn’t always have success with his inventions and they more often than not tended to short out or even explode. Although, he didn’t foresee something like that happening with a simple device such as a fuel cap. At worst, it would simply stop working or burn out if overused. But, then again, you could never really tell with one of ‘jack’s gadgets.

Placing the device into subspace storage until it was needed, Trailbreaker headed for the ship’s Armory, where he had an important task to do. As the defensive strategist, one of ‘breaker’s duties was to take inventory of the Autobots’ weapons cache on a regular cycle to ensure that his comrades had enough firepower to protect themselves when out on a mission. It would do them no good if they ran out of ammunition in the heat of battle or if they didn’t have enough functioning weapons to adequately defend themselves.

Ark-19 - Armory

Entering the Armory, Trailbreaker pulled out a data pad and immediately began the slow process of taking a detailed inventory of every weapon, warhead and laser cartridge that was stored within. It was a tedious job to be sure, but a necessary duty that ‘breaker took very seriously.

"That sounds like a good idea Smokescreen." Bumblebee said as he turned to follow the red and blue mech. "Since you're faster you can reach the other side of the lake before I can."

Bumblebee would smile if he could do so in vehicle mode. The yellow minibot figured Smokescreen wanted to get out and floor it, he couldn't blame him. The intelligence officer had been cooped up in the Ark long enough himself and was enjoying finally being out and doing something. He couldn't blame Smokescreen for wanting to get away from him, Bumblebee knew what it was like to be a subordinate, so for now he was content to let the other 'Bot drive to his sparks content. Just as long as he didn't get himself into any trouble.

"Alright Smokescreen, we'll meet at these coordinates once we have completed laying the new gear."

Bumblebee uploaded the meeting place before turning off for his first location.

Excellent! Finally, a chance to be on my own for a little while and show these slow poke humans how to really drive! Smokescreen thought as he received the coordinates for the rendezvous point from Bumblebee. He was a little surprised that his minibot superior was letting him loose so easily. Bumblebee was no idiot. Surely he knew that time was not a factor here and that Smokey just wanted some freedom. They could just as easily finish the job together as they can apart. It would just take a little longer together.

The diversionary tactician was not complaining, however. "Okay, ‘bee. I’ve got the coordinates. I’ll meet you there in about ten cycles. See ya later!" And with that said, Smokescreen sped off heading east along the northern shore of Lake Erie.

As Bumblebee watched Smokescreen speed off down the road the yellow minibot smiled internally. He trusted the other 'Bot to get his job down without drawing attention to himself and enjoy himself at the same time. He was starting to wonder if he should talk to Ironhide about setting up a rotating patrol schedule for the other Autobots for no other reason then to let them out of the Ark and allow them to stretch their legs. Or tires in this case.

Bumblebee took the first turn that lead down to the shore line of Lake Erie to begin deploying his sensory equipment. He had scouted the entire shoreline of the lake himself when the Aubobots had first arrived on Earth and had set up the first set of gear then. In the time that followed he had explored many of the lakes island as well and had mapped them out himself. For the equipment he and Smokescreen were to deploy he had selected a number of secluded areas where very few humans ever went, but allowed a good coverage of the lake.

Lake Erie Shore

Bumblebee pulled off the road at the first opportunity when he was near the first drop spot, the minibot was skilled at being able to stay out of sight even in his vehicle mode. Though there weren't many humans around anyway, he always liked to ensure that the chances of being spotted were at a minimum just in case someone was looking for him. He pulled into the first area, a nice little spot covered by plant growth and there the minibot deployed the first piece of equipment and the moved onto the next. It took several hours for him to cover the are he had chosen for himself, but once he was done he moved onto the rendezvous point with Smokescreen.

As Smokescreen zoomed down the highway that followed the northern shores of Lake Erie, his scanners were acute to the surrounding area. Specifically, he was looking for any signs of human law enforcement vehicles that could put an abrupt halt to his racing fun. At some points, the red and blue mech exceeded speeds of 100 mph. He took sharp turns in the road like he was on rails and passed other civilian cars with ease, leaving them wondering what they had just seen. Ahhh, now this is the life, Smokey thought as he felt the air rush across his hood and over top of his roof. Nothing beats this, except maybe blasting a Decepticon into scrap!

Smokescreen then slowed and came to a rare stop at an intersection where a traffic light had just gone red. He was willing to break some of the traffic laws, but certainly not all of them. He didn’t want to run a red light or a stop sign and possibly cause an accident. The diversion expert wouldn’t be able to hide something like that from Bumblebee or Ironhide and then he’d get into a lot of trouble and end up in the brig. How long is this slaggin’ light? Smokescreen thought, impatiently, as a silver and black sports car pulled up along side of him. A young human male was behind the wheel, revving the engine and looking in Smokey’s direction.

"Hey, buddy, nice car! Let’s see what you got!" The human shouted, a clear challenge that the Autobot couldn’t pass up. So, this kid wants to race me, huh? Smokey thought, happily. Outstanding! The holo-avatar turned his head towards the human driver and gave a simple nod in response, as the blue and red ‘bot began revving his engine, too. This is going to be fun!

Then the light turned green and Smokescreen peeled off down the road with his challenger at his side. Smokey decided not to go full speed right away. Instead, he wanted to play with his adversary and make him think that he actually had a chance against the superior engineering under the Autobot’s hood. He even allowed the human to pull ahead for a short while, but that didn’t last long. Okay, enough playing with this human. I’ve got a job to do.

The diversionary tactician increased his speed and was about to zoom by when the black and silver car quickly swerved in front of him, blocking the Autobot’s passage. The little fragger cut me off! I don’t have time for this! Smokey then immediately swerved to his left but was once again blocked by the human and his sub par vehicle. Okay, kid, you leave me with no choice, Smokescreen thought, as he carefully rammed his opponent’s rear bumper. It was a maneuver the red and blue racer had successfully executed a long time ago back on Cybertron when he participated in underground street racing. Only then his bumper ramming was much harder with the intent to force the other bot off the road. He couldn’t be so forceful here with a much more fragile human.

Smokey rammed the vehicle’s back end two more times before the human finally relented and moved over, allowing the Autobot to blow by him. Within astroseconds, the black sports car was only a mere dot in Smokescreen’s rearview mirror.

A couple of hours passed before Smokescreen finally reached the first designated area at the far end of the lake. He quickly pulled off the road and used his avatar to set up a surveillance device amongst some nearby trees. He remembered to employ one of the mini holo-projectors to help hide the sensor’s presence, making it look like a simple rock. That should do it, Smokey thought as his avatar returned to the vehicle. He then made a u-turn and drove west in the direction he had just come from.

Along the way, Smokescreen deployed five more sensors near the shoreline, each time placing the devices in a secluded area with a holo-projector attached. He followed Bumblebee’s map closely, ensuring that he covered all of the spots the minibot had marked. Once completed, Smokey made his way to the rendezvous point where he waited for Bumblebee to arrive.

Bumblebee had only just arrived when he saw the familiar form of Smokescreen's vehicle mode come into view. Considering that the yellow minibot was not as fast as his subordinate he wasn't all that surprised that the other Autobot had managed to complete his part of the mission in the same amount of time even though he had to cover more distance. Bumblebee was also pretty sure Smokescreen had enjoyed every minute of it. Although the minibot understood the importance of discipline since had been given a command of his own, he also felt it was important to let his subordinates relax when they had the chance to do so.

The location that Bumblebee had selected for the rendezvous point was an area that was shrouded with a thick cover of trees to prevent any wandering eyes from clearly spotting the two Autobot's. He had made note of many such areas along the lakes shore line during his initial reconnaissance of the area. Perhaps a bit excessive on his part, but experience and instinct had taught him it was always a good idea to make note of such things.

"I take it everything went well on your end Smokescreen?" Bumblebee asked as he moved forward to park closer to the blue and red 'Bot. "Now that we have the shore line covered I want to get some devices on those islands." He pulled up another map of the islands of the lakes interior and highlighted the nearly a dozen of the smaller land masses. "I want to cover these specific islands since they will provide the best coverage of the area for our listening devices."

Bumblebee drove slowly into the water after he had sent the map to Smokescreen and kept on going until he was totally submerged. Once safely out of sight underwater and transformed into his robot mode.

"Alright Smokescreen I am going to take the islands in the lakes southern area, mainly Kelly's Island, Middle Bass Island, Catawba Island, and I am going to deploy a few at the bottom of the lake as well just to keep an eye on human shipping traffic in the area. I want you to take the islands in the west and deploy some along the bottom also. I think once that is done we can head back to the Ark as I think will do us nicely."

The minibot hovered in the water as he waited for his companion to join him.

“Everything went perfect, Bumblebee,” Smokescreen responded as the VW beetle pulled up along side of him. “I deployed surveillance devices at all the points you marked on the map. They are all functioning properly and are located in well secluded areas with holo-projectors attached for added concealment.” Smokey made no mention of the little race he had with the human. There was no need. The mission had been a success so far and that's all that really mattered.

Smokescreen listened as Bumblebee outlined the areas that he wanted to cover next. The red and blue mech received the new map of the islands before watchng his minibot companion drive into the water and disappear below the surface. The diversionary tactician quickly followed, transforming back to robot mode once he was completely submerged. It was fun being in car mode while it lasted, Smokey thought as Bumblebee gave him further instructions.

“No problem, 'bee,” Smokescreen assured him. “I’ll mainly focus on Pelee Island, the Sister Islands, Turtle Island and Green Island. But I’ll be sure to also cover the bottom of the lake, as well. I’ll let you know once I’m finished before heading back to the Ark.” Smokescreen then made his way further out into the lake. “Comm me if you need anything, Bumblebee. I’ll be there in an astrosecond. Take care!” Smokescreen then sank into the depths of Lake Erie and set a course for Pelee Island.

Bumblebee watched as Smokescreen made his was towards the map locations that the yellow minibot had set out for him. Being underwater felt almost as natural as being on land for Bumblebee and he smiled as he turned for his first destination and began to swim towards it. Although Cybertron wasn't as wet as Earth it still had contained a few water bodies before the war and the minibot had spent sometime exploring them. That was so long ago Bumblebee felt like it was almost a glitch in his memory banks. Even so, when exploring the water bodies of an alien world always conjured up those distant memories and gave him a strange sense of being home in the peaceful days before there were Decepticons.

The small Aubobot came out of his day dreaming as he approached the first island, Middle Bass. His sensors told him the area was clear of any potential prying eyes before he appeared from beneath the water to place a disguised sensor device on the shore. He then circled the island and placed several more before he submerged once more and covered the lake floor around the island. He then repeated this process with the other islands he wanted to cover.

Standing on the lake floor, Bumblebee placied the last of the sensor devices he carried in the hull of an old, sunken human ship. His exploration of the lake had revealed there were many such wrecks scattered over the area and Bumblebee had indulged his curiosity on occasion when he had the free time and Ironhide let him off the Ark. Although the minibot understood that each wreck represented a tragedy to some degree, there was a strange appeal to explore them, though his size, even for a minibot, made it difficult to get in side many of them and to move around.

The minibot looked up as a human ship passed by on the surface. He watched it for several astroseconds until it was past him before he let himself rise and activated his communications system.

"I'm all finished up here on my end Smokescreen, I'll met you back at the Ark before I head on inside."

The yellow minibot then swam back to the Autobot base ship and there he hovered in the water as he waited for his companion to return.

>>"Ark 19, this is Sunstreaker. I got whats left of Jazz. We and Sideswipe need and immediate bounce back to base before the cons send everyone they have after us."<<

>>Hey Sunstreaker. This is Windcharger. I've got a lock on the three of you. I'll have you out of there faster than you can say 'Cybertron'.<<

Windcharger had in fact managed to get a lock on Jazz just before the transmission came in and was just about to bounce them back anyway. All that was left was to press a few buttons on his control panel to complete the bounce sequence. Once completed, Windcharger turned to get Ironhide's attention.

"I've got them back here now. They should all be down in the transport room. I'll go down and meet them. Still can't figure out what was causing the interference that kept me from finding Jazz, though."

Windcharger paused, tapping a finger on his cranial unit trying to think of a solution.

"Better have Wheeljack come and check out my console. Maybe there's a problem with the sensors. Anyway, we'd better figure it out. Wouldn't want the Decepticons sneaking up us because of some faulty sensors."

Windcharger jumped up and gave Ironhide a quick salute, then ran for the door. As he entered the hall he transformed into his spiffy new alternate mode and sped off for the transport room to greet Jazz and the twins who he admired greatly. They were warriors like him, but they were bigger and got picked for more missions than he did. Perhaps it had more to do with reliability than size, but this thought never occured to the minibot. He always assumed that since most Autobots had to look down to speak to him he was thought of as being an inferior warrior to the others.

It wasn't often that Windcharger was picked first for a mission. But his ability to create and manipulate magnetic fields certainly made him an asset in some situations. The trouble was, one never knew what kind of performance you were about to get from him. Because he had a tendancy to make snap decisions, the results of his actions typically had half a chance of being positive. His thought process was a genuine plus in some cases, but his haste was a negative in others. It would likely take some major reprogramming to cure him of this, but then he wouldn't be the Autobot he is.

Burning rubber through the hallways of the Ark, Windcharger opened a communications channel to Wheeljack.

>>Hey Wheeljack. I know you're probably in the middle of a dozen things right now, but do you think you could have a look at my computer console? I think some sensors may be burned out. Lucky for Jazz that Sunstreaker found him when he did, or the Decepticons might have made him into spare parts. Anyway let me know what you find out. I'll catch up with you after I see the guys. Windcharger out.<<

>>Hey Wheeljack. I know you're probably in the middle of a dozen things right now, but do you think you could have a look at my computer console? I think some sensors may be burned out. Lucky for Jazz that Sunstreaker found him when he did, or the Decepticons might have made him into spare parts. Anyway let me know what you find out. I'll catch up with you after I see the guys. Windcharger out.<<

Computer Lab

>>Sure thing Windcharger I'll head on up and take a look at your console right away. I am not working on anything of vital importance right now.<<

The engineer grabbed his tool kit and turned for the door. He made his way through the ships corridors as he head up to the bridge of the Ark, and as he went he was working out in his mind all the different technical issues that could be causing the problem. It could be something as simple as a damaged link system between the console and the bounce system, or it could be as bad as a full crash of the consoles localised computer system. Wheeljack hoped it wasn't as bad as a crash as that would require him to pretty much rebuild the entire console. Though given what Windcharger had said about the trouble he was having it didn't seem to be a problem of that scale.

Command Deck

Wheeljack walked onto the command deck of the Ark and walked over to Windcharger's console and sat in the chair in front of it. He began a quick systems check and everything came back green, though the targetting scanner for the orbital bounce system was obviously out of alignment the console itself seemed ok and the there was no sign of a larger problem. The engineer opened his tool kit and opened one of the computer panels and began to take a look at the consoles circutiry and inner workings.

Everything seemed to be working fine since the last time he did a maintence check on the console. He closed the the panel and turned to the orbital bounce targeting sensor and set it to test mode, meaning he would not actually transport anything with the system, just merely make the system think it was doing so. He simply targeted a parked human vehicle in one of the near by urban centres and went through the process of initiaring an orbital bounce. However, when it came to finally locking onto the target the system seemed to either just drift off target or the system itself just had difficulty locking on.

Once again he opened the console and began checking the workings for the orbital bounce targeting sensors. Everything seemed to be ok, but then he noticed one of the circuit banks appeared damaged. Tacking a laser cutter from his tool kit Wheeljack carefully cut away the linkages keeping the bank in place and removed it. He didn't have to do more then see that part of the bank was damaged, fortunatly it wasn't anything major. He was able to remove the damaged section of circuits and he was able to replace them with spares he carried in his tool kit. Once the repair work was done Wheeljack placed the circut bank back in its place and reconnected it to the rest of the system.

With his repair work done Wheeljack closed the consoles panel and once again attempted the test targetting. This time the targeting sensors locked onto the target with only a slight delay, probably because the new circuts were only just added and did not have the chance to fully intergrate into the system yet, but other then that everything appeared to be working fine.

>>Wheeljack to Windcharger. I just finished taking a look at your console. There was a damaged bamk of targeting circuts for the orbital bounce system, it wasn't anything to major but enough to prevent the targeting system from getting a clear lock. I was able to repair the damaged area and place back in the system. From what I can see everything should be working fine.<<

With his work done Wheeljack packed up his tool kit and made his way off the bridge. He wanted to take a closer look at the damaged circuts as he only ran his last maintenice check about a week ago. He just wanted to make sure that the damage was just from regular wear and tear of equipment and not an indication of a larger problem.

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